5 A LITTLE SHADOWING

CHAPTER FIVE A LITTLE SHADOWING 'PETER, WHEN is the next meeting, do you suppose?' asked Janet, on Saturday morning. 'I'm going to the station now, to do my practice for the Secret Seven, you know, watching somebody and describing them, and I'd like to know when I can give my work in to the Society. I'm going to do it really well.' 'Well, I'll call the meeting for one evening next week,' said Peter. 'That will be time enough. I'm going off now to find a good spyhole with Jack. Have I got my notebook and pencil? Yes, I have. Well, good luck at the station, Janet, and don't choose just one

第五章小影子彼得，你认为下次聚会是什么时候？星期六早上，珍妮特问。 “我现在要去车站，为‘秘密七人组’做练习，你知道，观察某个人，描述他们。我想知道我什么时候能把我的作品交给社团。” 我一定会做得很好。“好吧，我下周召集一个晚上开会，”彼得说。 “时间足够了。 我现在要和杰克一起去找个隐蔽的好地方。 我有笔记本和铅笔吗？ 是的，我有。祝你在警局好运，珍妮特，别只选一个

person. That would be too easy. Choose three at least.' 'I thought I'd choose somebody we all know, too, if I can,' said Janet. 'Then you'll see if you can recognise them when I read out my notes.' 'Good idea,' said Peter. 'Well, I'm off to call for Jack.' He set off, and Janet went in the opposite direction, to the station. She passed Barbara and Pam on the way. They were sitting on the bus-stop seat, looking rather giggly, with notebooks in their hands. 'Have you begun yet?' asked Janet, in a low voice. 'No. No bus has stopped here yet,' said Pam. 'We're each going to choose one passenger getting out, and wait till the bus has gone off again. Then we're going to put down exactly what we remember about the two passengers.'

的人。那太容易了。 至少选择三个。“我想如果可以的话，我也会选一个我们都认识的人，”珍妮特说。 “等我念笔记的时候，你看看能不能认出来。”“好主意，”彼得说。 “好了，我去叫杰克。”他出发了，珍妮特朝相反的方向去了车站。 她在路上经过了芭芭拉和帕姆。 他们坐在公共汽车站的座位上，手里拿着笔记本，傻笑着。 “你开始了吗？”珍妮特低声问。 “不。“还没有公共汽车在这里停过，”潘说。 “我们每人选一个下车的乘客，然后等到公共汽车再次开动。 然后我们要把我们记得的两位乘客的情况准确地写下来。”

Colin and George were not thinking about their Secret Seven jobs just then. Both had decided to do them at night. Shadowing would be so much easier then. They were not going together, of course. Peter had forbidden that. But when the evening came, only George set out. Colin had sneezed three times, and his mother had heard him. As she knew he caught colds very easily, she wouldn't let him go out after tea! 'But, Mother, I must,' said Colin, desperately. 'It's Secret Seven work. I've got to do it.' 'Can't it be done another night?' said his mother. 'Surely it isn't absolutely necessary to do it tonight.' Colin hesitated. 'Well, yes, I suppose it could be done another night,' he said truthfully. 'All right, Mother, I won't go tonight. But you will let me go another night, won't you?'

柯林和乔治当时并没有在想他们的七大秘密任务。 两人都决定在晚上做。 那样做影子就容易多了。 当然，他们不是一起去的。 彼得禁止他那样做。但到了晚上，只有乔治出门了。 科林打了三个喷嚏，他妈妈听到了。 因为她知道他很容易感冒，所以她不让他喝茶后出门！“可是，妈妈，我必须这么做。”柯林绝望地说。 “这是七号秘密的工作。我必须这么做。“不能改天晚上再做吗？”他母亲说。 “当然，今晚不一定非得这么做。”科林犹豫了。 “嗯，是的，我想可以改天晚上再做，”他诚实地说。 “好吧，妈妈，今晚我不去了。 不过你会让我改天晚上再去的，是吗？”

So only George went out shadowing that night. He had put on rubber shoes so that he made no sound when walking or running. He had put on a dark overcoat, so that he wouldn't be seen in the shadows. He had even blacked his face. He looked most peculiar! He stared at himself in the mirror and grinned, so that his teeth suddenly showed startlingly white in his black face. 'I'd better slip out of the garden door,' he decided. 'If Mother catches sight of me she'll have a fit! I do look strange!'

所以那天晚上只有乔治去做影子。 他穿上了胶鞋，这样他走路或跑步时就不会发出声音。 他穿上了一件深色大衣，这样在阴影中就不会被人看见。 他甚至把脸涂黑了。 他看起来很奇怪！他盯着镜子里的自己，咧嘴一笑，他的牙齿突然在他黑色的脸上露出了惊人的白色。 “我最好从花园门溜出去，”他决定。 “要是妈妈看见我，她会大发雷霆的！”我看上去真怪！”

He decided to take a rubber truncheon that he had had for Christmas, to make it seem more real. Now I can really pretend I'm a policeman! he thought, swinging the rubber truncheon from his wrist. It looked exactly like

他决定拿起圣诞节的橡皮警棍，让它看起来更真实。 现在我真的可以假装我是警察了！他一边想，一边挥动手腕上的橡皮警棍。 它看起来就像

a real one, but was only made of thin brown rubber! He crept downstairs and out of the garden door. His rubber shoes made no sound. He went down the path to the back gate and came out quietly into the dark street. The street lamps were lit. He would have to keep out of their radiance. He went along cautiously, swinging the rubber truncheon. Now then, you thieves! Now then, you spies! Look out, here comes P.C. Rubber-Soles, hard on your trail! Who was he to shadow? Nobody seemed to come along at all. Wait a minute, was this the bus coming? Yes, it was. Good! It would set some passengers down, and he could trail one of them to his home, wherever it was. The bus stopped up the street, and George saw some black shadows moving as people stepped down from it. Somebody was walking towards him now, having got off the bus. He

一个真正的，但只是由薄棕色橡胶制成的！他蹑手蹑脚地下了楼，走出了花园的门。 他的胶鞋没有声音。 他沿着小路走到后门，悄悄地走到黑暗的街道上。 路灯亮着。 他必须远离他们的光芒。 他小心翼翼地走着，挥舞着橡皮警棍。 好了，你们这些贼！现在，你们这些探子！小心，政正来了 橡胶鞋底，加油！他要跟踪谁呢？ 似乎根本没有人过来。 等一下，这是来的公交车吗？ 是的，它是。好!它会让一些乘客下车，这样他就可以跟踪其中一个到他的家，不管他的家在哪里。 公共汽车在街上停了下来，乔治看到一些黑影在移动，人们从车上走下来。 有人正朝他走来，刚下了车。 他